On Tuesday, June 25, ACS hosted its annual panel discussion at the National Press Club examining the current Supreme Court term. Leading experts representing both progressive and conservative perspectives discussed the Court’s most noteworthy decisions and identified emerging trends.
Opening Remarks:
Caroline Fredrickson, President, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy
Panel Discussion featured:
- Moderator, Erwin Chemerinsky, Founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law
- F. Paul Bland, Jr., Senior Attorney, Public Justice
- David D. Cole, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
- Walter Dellinger, Partner, O’Melveny & Myers LLP; former acting U.S. Solicitor General
- Bert W. Rein, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP
The United States incarcerates more than 2 million people, imprisoning more people than any other country in the world. This unprecedented prison population can be attributed to federal and state policies implemented over the past few decades, including mandatory minimums, three strikes, and life without parole. Our culture of incarceration is reflected in a variety of contexts, from the War on Drugs to the School to Prison Pipeline, where criminalization has prevailed over other approaches to social problems. Mass incarceration has had a disproportionate impact on people and communities of color, with African Americans and Latinos constituting approximately 60% of the prison population. What are the consequences of mass incarceration for our society? What policies and practices are driving these high levels of imprisonment? Are there constitutional tools at our disposal, like the pardon power and the Eighth Amendment, which can assist in ending the era of mass incarceration?
City Attorney of San Francisco, Dennis Herrera took time to talk to the American Constitution Society about marriage equality.
Steve Sanders, Associate Professor of Law Indiana University Maurer School of Law talks marriage equality with ACSblog.
Paul M. Smith, Partner at Jenner & Block talks to ACSblog about marriage equality. Smith was the lead attorney who successfully argued before the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark gay rights case which struck down sodomy laws throughout the U.S.
The Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition on Regulatory and Administrative Law Award and David Carliner Public Interest Award were given during the 2013 ACS National Convention. The Carliner Award was presented to Kara Hartzler, an appellate attorney at the Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. The Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition which honors Judge Cudahy’s decades of distinguished service as one of the nation’s finest appellate judges went to Cary Adickman in the student category and Bruce Kraus, Partner, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, and Connor Raso, Attorney-Advisor, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the lawyer category.
